New troubles emerge for IndiGo

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has sacked four Flight Operations Inspectors (FOIs) who were directly responsible for monitoring operational compliance and safety at IndiGo. Meanwhile, the Additional Commissioner of CGST, Delhi South Commissionerate, has slapped a tax penalty notice of Rs 58.75 crore on the carrier. To add to the airline’s woes, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) is examining whether IndiGo violated competition norms.

The FOIs were directly responsible for overseeing the functioning of India’s largest airline in order to ensure safety and compliance with the prescribed rules and standards. FOIs are critical to the functioning of the DGCA’s Flight Standards Directorate. The DGCA had 13 FOIs after sacking the four FOIs.

Meanwhile, according to a regulatory filing by Interglobe Aviation, IndiGo parent’s company, the firm was slapped a tax penalty of around Rs 58.75 crore. The amount includes “GST demand along with penalty” pertaining to FY2020-2021, the company noted. The company said it will contest the order before the appropriate authority. This is the third demand notice by tax authorities in December. On 1 December, the company received a GST penalty/demand order of about Rs 117.52 crore from the Joint Commissioner of Central Tax & Central Excise, CGST Kochi Commissionerate. On 8 December, the company disclosed that it had received an income tax demand and penalty of KWD 448,793 (about ?13.16 crore) from Kuwait’s Department of Inspection and Tax Claims. The company said it will contest them before the appropriate authorities.

IndiGo has decided to engage an external expert to conduct an independent review and assessment of the disruption and the factors that contributed to it.